I went to the world’s most dangerous city and spent the evening playing Uno.

I only did minimal research before I joined the tour this time. Exams had led me right up to my departure date so I’d only daydreamed of Central America but when I finally got round to a bit of reading and Googling, I could only find one thing about San Pedro Sula, Honduras, – it was the world’s most violent city.

I really mean it. Google yielded no information on the city other than a variety of Daily Mail articles about beheadings. Continue reading →

I knew going to Roatan that I wanted to spend quite a lot of time diving. I did also have other plans, namely lying on the beach, eating lots of seafood and exploring the island but they never came to fruition. Instead, I convinced myself to spend three whole days on and off the dive boat , reading my coursebook in hammocks in my spare time, to complete my Advanced Open Water qualification.

There are quite a few people who like to visit a McDonald’s in every place that they go to.

I get it. There’s the familiarity of knowing what to expect when everything around you is different. There’s also the excitement of seeing what is different about them – what different food do they sell? The genius that is McDelivery in Thailand. The Double Big Mac. The novelty of being able to buy alcohol in one. Or just being able to say that you’ve been to a McDonald’s in 20 different countries. Yeah, I get it.

But I don’t do it. In fact, I didn’t think I did anything similar to that at all until I realised this summer, that quite by accident, I’ve been collecting Via Via cafes.